Effectiveness of non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions on delirium duration in older adults with delirium: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Background Delirium is a severe neuropsychiatric syndrome common in older adults and linked to adverse outcomes, especially when prolonged and in the presence of cognitive deficits. While preventive multicomponent strategies are well established, the effectiveness of interventions for treating delir...
| Published in: | Age & Ageing Vol. 55; no. 4; pp. 1 - 12 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Apr2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193500081&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193500081 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00020729 AGA jtl: Age & Ageing issn: 00020729 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 55 iid: 4 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 193500081 10.1093/ageing/afag085 ppf: 1 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Effectiveness of non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions on delirium duration in older adults with delirium: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. aug: au: Sánchez, Alba Sawant-Uttekar, Pallavi Pribadi, Afifah N Heinen, Darlene Thomas, Christine Arnim, Christine von Kühnle, Julia Kreisel, Stefan Henner Hewer, Walter Fath, Björn affil: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany Klinik für Geriatrie, Marien Hospital Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany Department of Geriatric Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany Department of Geriatrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, GermanyGerman Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Göttingen, Germany Department of Geriatric Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment of Geriatrics, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, GermanyGerman Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Göttingen, Germany Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany Klinikum Christophsbad, Clinic for Geriatric Psychiatry, Göppingen, Germany Department of Geriatric Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, GermanyKlinikum Christophsbad, Clinic for Geriatric Psychiatry, Göppingen, Germany su: Old age Disease duration Research funding Treatment effectiveness Meta-analysis Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Systematic reviews MEDLINE Delirium Medical databases Length of stay in hospitals Confidence intervals Psychology information storage & retrieval systems sug: subj: Old age Disease duration Research funding Treatment effectiveness Meta-analysis Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Systematic reviews MEDLINE Delirium Medical databases Length of stay in hospitals Confidence intervals Psychology information storage & retrieval systems keyword: copyrightHolder:British Geriatrics Society copyrightYear:2026 delirium delirium duration https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afag085 inLanguage:en meta-analysis non-pharmacological interventions older adult older adults pharmacology pharmacotherapy publisher:Oxford University Press randomization sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41965252/ systematic review copyrightHolder:British Geriatrics Society copyrightYear:2026 delirium delirium duration https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afag085 inLanguage:en meta-analysis non-pharmacological interventions older adult older adults pharmacology pharmacotherapy publisher:Oxford University Press randomization sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41965252/ systematic review ab: Background Delirium is a severe neuropsychiatric syndrome common in older adults and linked to adverse outcomes, especially when prolonged and in the presence of cognitive deficits. While preventive multicomponent strategies are well established, the effectiveness of interventions for treating delirium in older adults remains unclear. Objective To evaluate the efficacy of non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions for treating delirium after onset in older adults (≥65 years), with delirium duration as primary outcome and length of stay as secondary. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials evaluating interventions for treating delirium across settings, excluding ICU-only studies. MEDLINE, Cochrane, Web of Science and PsycINFO were searched through October 2024. Comparators included usual care, placebo or other drug treatments. Random-effects meta-analyses with subgroup analyses by setting and drug type were performed. Sensitivity analyses excluded high risk-of-bias studies. PROSPERO registration: CRD42024500346. Results Seventeen trials (3765 randomised patients) were included. Non-pharmacological multicomponent interventions (k = 6, n = 2634) reduced delirium duration by −1.79 days [95% confidence interval (CI): −3.08 to −0.51] compared to usual care, with high heterogeneity (I = 97%). Effects were significant in medical and mixed settings. Pharmacological interventions (k = 7, n = 259) showed no significant effect (mean difference: −0.58 days; 95% CI: −1.24 to 0.08), and subgroup analyses revealed no differences. Neither intervention type significantly reduced length of stay. Conclusions Non-pharmacological multicomponent interventions may reduce delirium duration in older adults, but evidence is limited by heterogeneity and the few studies focused on treatment. Pharmacological and single-component interventions showed unclear benefit, underscoring the need for more high-quality trials in this population. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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